The present invention relates to an aerosol spray container and more particularly to an aerosol spray container provided with a spray director.
It is well known to provide an aerosol spray container with a spray director which may be used to guide the aerosol spray emerging from the aerosol valve of the container along a predetermined path to facilitate efficient application of the aerosol spray into a particular location or area which may otherwise be inaccessible or difficult to reach. The spray director may be referred to in the art by a variety of different terms including the following: guide, dispensing tube, directing tube, discharge conduit, or the like.
While the director is typically a relatively rigid or strongly resilient, longitudinally extending member, it may alternately be flexible as disclosed in U.S. Pat. 4,096,974. While a flexible director is relatively easy to store within the cap or cover assembly of the spray can, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,974, the more conventional relatively rigid or strongly resilient director presents a storage problem. Most commonly, the aerosol spray container is purchased with the director simply taped to a side of the container and, after purchase, it is up to the user to retape it to the container after each use. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,520,951; 4,819,838; and 4,941,594 disclose aerosol spray containers which have especially designed caps or covers adapted to releasably receive a director and maintain it with the container for storage purposes, but the director is stored in each case on the outer periphery of the container where it can easily be accidentally dislodged and separated therefrom. U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,007 discloses a cap for an aerosol container which includes a volume within the cap for storing a short director, thereby to avoid this accidental dislocation problem, but the length of the director which can be thus stored is severely limited and, furthermore, the loss of the cap also results in loss of the director.
Thus, the need-remains for an aerosol container which provides a storage location for a director which meets a variety of different requirements. The storage location must accommodate a longitudinally extending director which itself may be non-flexible (i.e., substantially rigid) and almost as long as the spray container. It must store the director in a location within the radial periphery of the aerosol container and separate from the cover so that the director cannot be accidentally separated from the aerosol container and would not be lost even if the cap is lost. It furthermore preferably positions the director such that the director does not interfere with normal use of the container when the director is not required and permits capping in the container to both prevent accidental discharge of the contents and retention of the spray director.
Accordingly, an object to the present invention is to provide an aerosol spray container adapted to store a spray director, with the major portion of the length of the spray director disposed within the aerosol container and thus within the radial periphery of the container.
Another object is to provide such a container which can store a longitudinally extending, substantially rigid director without bending the same.
A further object is to provide such a container which can store a director having a length almost equal to that of the container itself.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a container wherein the director in its storage location does not interfere with the normal use of the aerosol container when the director is not required.
It is a further object to provide such a container which is of simple and economical construction.